


The People You Meet While Raising Hot Rod

by raisedbymoogles



Series: Renewed [4]
Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Adoption, Family, Gen, Ghosts, Seer, meetings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 10:10:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6002041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raisedbymoogles/pseuds/raisedbymoogles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three significant meetings in the life of Kup, the legendary warrior who raised and trained the sparkling who would become Rodimus Prime.</p><p>...well. Two meetings and a conversation. And a hug.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The People You Meet While Raising Hot Rod

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gemma_Inkyboots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gemma_Inkyboots/gifts).



_1) ~a sparkling~_

Going underground might have worked to avoid Megatron's rainmakers and airborne legions, but it was not without its own dangers. Flee too deep, and you ran up against all manner of unholy demons once spoken of only in stories; stay near the surface, you could come to the attention of Decepticon ground patrols with their audials to the ground. Even when you found that sweet spot between the monsters, there were dangers: rusted metal that gave way under your treads, mazes that kept you going in circles until you dropped into stasis, cave-ins that left whole caravans buried.

"Ain't that a cryin' shame," Kup commented, hands on his hips as he surveyed the results of one such collapse. A small one, by his standards, barely a few beams that had quietly rusted through, but enough to kill a small band of refugees crossing through Autobot territory in what they'd thought was relative safety. "All right, let's get to work, lads."

"Sir, shouldn't we - say a few words?" His lieutenant, young enough that he'd still be in the youngling centers if Megatron hadn't gone and broke the whole damn world. "Commend their sparks to Primus?"

Kup sighed. "Pipes, lookit that ceiling. It's holdin' together with exhaust fumes and prayer. We have to pull this mess out and shore up what's left before the whole tunnel goes." Pipes winced; the others started to shift and mutter nervously. "The dead can take care of themselves," he continued, raising his voice so they could hear. "Or they'll have to, now. We got work to do for them who're lucky enough to be still livin'."

That was enough to settle their panic and get them moving. For a while all was lifting, heaving, bracing - all working together, just as Autobots should. Kup threw himself into the work, forcing his own feelings to the side. One day they'd be able to send the dead to Primus the way they deserved to be sent.

The bodies were removed and carried to a safer portion of the tunnel, one by one. One of them was curled around a pod of the sort used for transporting valuables. "Should we open it?" Pipes asked with an uneasy look.

Kup knew how he felt - disrespecting the dead was one thing, but actively robbing them? "...let's see if there's anything we can use," he sighed. _If you're gonna drive a road, drive it all the way to the end._

The pod was opened. Inside was neither treasure nor energon, but a tiny sparkling, dozing in protective stasis.

"Primus's leaky boron compressor!" Pipes yelped.

"Watch your vocalizer in front of bitlets, afthead," Kup snapped. The sparkling was beginning to stir, roused by the dim light and voices. It was all over scuffs and half-healed dents, no recent injuries that Kup could see, and it didn't resemble in the slightest any of the people they'd pulled out of the collapse. "Poor little scraplet. Where'd you come from?"

"Sir?" Pipes hedged as Kup crouched by the pod. "What - why?"

"Primus only knows," Kup murmured, soft and gentle. "Maybe they were protecting him. Maybe they were stealing him. Can't ask 'em now." The sparklet's optics lit: beautiful blue. "Keep workin' on that tunnel, mechs. I gotta report this to Magnus."

When the little one reached out, Kup made sure his hand was there to grab and cling onto.

_2) ~a ghost~_

The seer was no more than a youngling herself; her gusty sigh of relief made her drape flutter when Kup asked for a true reading. "There is someone here to see you. Ei identifies eirself as Pennant."

Kup frowned. "Don't know the name."

The seer tilted her head. "Ei says, you wouldn't. Ei was dead before you could meet. But you - took something from eir? Is that right?" The seer addressed the air to Kup's side; Kup tried not to shift. _These things could be so damn spooky!_ "Oh. _Received_ something from eir. Something important." She gasped, her drape fluttering again. "A sparkling? Really? ...oh. Forgive me, both of you." She pressed her hands to her thighs and re-centered herself.

Kup's head spun. "A sparkling... you must mean Lad. We found the little bit in a pod digging out a cave-in. Saved the bit's life, that did," he added, nodding to where he thought Pennant was standing. "I'm sorry y'all lost your lives in the process, but you protected your sparkling, and he's hale and healthy now."

" _The sparkling was not of my spark,_ Pennant says," the seer supplied. "Pennant's band found him wandering the borderlands between Vos and Tarn - damaged. Couldn't tell them his name or where he came from. But they-" The seer fell silent, optics wide. "They performed a crystal reading over him and found that he was a sensitive spark. They were bringing him to the Deep Temple in Iacon." The seer nodded. "Pennant asks, _Will you bring the sparkling to the Temple in our place? It is more vital than I can express that he is received by the priests._ "

Kup's optics met the seer's, both knowing what Kup's grim answer must be. "Mech, I'm sorry," he said, "but the Deep Temple is long gone and buried. The priests are scattered or dead. Lad won't find any kinda reception there."

The seer listened for a moment, her expression turning increasingly furrowed in concentration. " _This is ill news,_ " she said for Pennant. " _But it is not the doom of Cybertron. Not yet._ "

"Doom?" Kup protested. "Mech, you been soakin' in the Well too long. Talk to me like a normal mech."

" _Forgive me,_ " was Pennant's answer. " _I cannot say more. Only - protect him, I beg you. Teach him all you know, and let him learn from others as well. That sparkling will be our light in our darkest hour._ "

"...our what?" Kup complained, but the seer shook her head.

"Ei has faded," she explained. "Ei was already tired from the journey. I think that will be all the explanation we receive from eir anyway."

Kup sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Well, that was weird," he pronounced, and the seer hummed in agreement. "Begging me to protect him...?" Lad's face swam before him, his curiosity and sweet smile. "Like I wouldn't anyway."

_3) ~a Winglord~_

"I've been meaning to speak to you," said the new Winglord of Vos.

Kup found himself straightening. Even now, after all the old power structures were broken, he still found himself responding to a mech of rank like a guard would. That was all it was, of course - an old instinct left over from an old world. He was not at all nervous because this was his lad's long-lost carrier. No, he was too old for that nonsense.

"I guess I got a little time," he drawled, deliberately leaning against the balcony. The concert was in intermission, and Rodimus had gone with Danny and Haze to get some refreshments and do a little mingling. Below, the crowd chattered like a lakeside on Earth, voices merging into a formless ripple as the musicians re-tuned their instruments. "What can I do for you, Winglord?"

Nightlight's hands flew up like startled flight-model cassettes. "Please, no titles between us," he blurted, and Kup straightened in concern this time. "I'll never get used to it anyway, and of all people, you..."

"Something wrong?" Kup coaxed. "Nightlight?"

Nightlight's optics shuttered; he seemed to steel himself, then reached out, grasping Kup's hands. "I want to say thank you," he said in a rush. "Thank you, thank you a thousand times for keeping my little one safe."

 _...ah, bless._ Kup curled his fingers around Nightlight's, feeling them tremble with emotion. "You don't owe me any thanks for that. Lad fell into my lap an' I never stopped to question my good fortune. Couldn't be prouder of how the lad turned out, but I'll be slagged if I had anything t' do with that."

"I'm proud of him too." Nightlight's smile bloomed slowly, tremulously. "But - oh, I'm so jealous of you! You got to watch him grow. You were there when he found his name."

"Heh. That was a day. I still remember how excited he was." Kup's optics darkened with a bitter pang - the day Hot Rod had found his name was also the day he started training with weapons, preparing for life as a soldier. "I should be thanking you too, you know," he said abruptly, pulling his thoughts away from the past.

Nightlight blinked up at him. "Me? Why?"

"Roddy's been steadier since you found each other." Kup tried a smile for him. "Maybe he's more at peace with himself knowin' where he came from, that he has a family that loves him."

"He had that the day you found him," Nightlight insisted, and his hold tightened on Kup's fingers. "But - you're right. I love him, and I will support him with all my spark."

Kup relaxed, figuring that was the end of the conversation - then Nightlight flung his arms around Kup's shoulders, hugging him tightly. Kup's vents spun up, struggling to deal with the new source of warmth, but - being hugged by the Winglord wasn't unpleasant. Not at all.

Kup's arms curled around Nightlight's, gentle and decorous. "Easy now," he said, as gently as he would have to his Lad once. "We're all together now." Nightlight made a soft, grateful noise and bent his helm to Kup's shoulder.

The curtain was pulled aside; Nightlight straightened, leaving Kup off-balance again. "You okay?" asked Rodimus, peering in.

"We're fine, lad." Kup beckoned him in and the Prime obeyed, trailing Danny and Haze after him. "Did they have that silicon additive after all?"

"No, we ended up getting you zinc instead." Rodimus handed over a cube of fuel to Kup, followed by one for Nightlight. "Flier fuel," he reported proudly. "As requested."

"You're a wonder." Nightlight accepted the fuel with such a bright smile, as though he could hardly believe his good fortune - and maybe he couldn't, given who had brought it to him.

Kup sipped his zinc-laced fuel thoughtfully. _I guess,_ he reflected as the lights dimmed again and the younglings bounced into their seats, _I know exactly how he feels._

He took his seat more sedately, sighing as he sank down. Rodimus glanced over to him, a silent query on his face, but when Kup smiled in response the Prime smiled warmly back, his blue optics bright and clear.


End file.
